Sermon - 4OctoBer 2026
Psalm 148, Luke 12: 13-21
I was talking to a friend and mentioned that we were celebrating St Francis today and her immediate response was ‘Oh everyone knows about St Francis’ which prompted my response ’Well what do you know?’ To which she replied ‘he loved animals’ ‘And what else I asked to which question she admitted she had no further information! Now I am sure everyone here is better informed but just in case a few facts have slipped your memory I will give you a brief outline of his history
Francis was born the son of a wealthy cloth maker and was actually baptised with the name of John but, because his mother was French, he was given the nickname of Francesco meaning little Frenchman. In his youth he was apparently extravagant and carefree, a troubadour and a knight at arms. However on a pilgrimage to Rome he impulsively exchanged his rich attire for a beggar’s grimy garb and on his return to Assisi even more impulsively started kissing lepers. Then at the age of twenty-six while praying in a ruined chapel he heard a voice commanding him to ‘Repair my house.’ To which task he set to immediately. However, needing funds for the work he sold bolts of cloth from his father’s warehouse whereupon his angry parent discovering this misappropriation hauled him before the bishop and disinherited him. Francis not in the least abashed at such an action removed all the clothes he was wearing and handed them back to his father thus further convincing the poor man that his son was undoubtedly mad. The bishop aghast at seeing a naked Francis hastily clothed him in the rough brown tunic worn by his gardener though history doesn’t tell us what if anything the poor gardener was then given to wear. The brown tunic of course was the origin of the distinctive Franciscan habit. After all this drama Francis we are told left singing but was then set upon by a gang of ruffians beaten and thrown into a ditch which again we are told did not disturb Francis one bit. From then on Francis and some likeminded companions wandered the countryside begging and preaching the gospel Within fifteen years the number of Friars had grown to no less than five thousand all living under Francis’ very strict rule which emphasised absolute poverty, humility and discipline which has been softened over the centuries. And just a few random facts to complete this short biography he preached a sermon to the birds, made a peace treaty with a wolf, instituted the custom off the Christmas crib and while praying one day received the marks of the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. And at his death his wish to be buried in a pauper’s field was completely ignored and instead he was enshrined in a lavish basilica which of course you may still visit.
Not a rags to riches story but quite the opposite as far as personal possessions goes but truly a rags to riches story in regard to spiritual growth and an ever- expanding sense of wonder at both God’s Creation and his love for us his children. And hearing that account I wonder how we would see our own spiritual journey? I cannot imagine for one minute any of us stripping off all our clothes and being dressed in what amounted to little more than a sack but at the same time just how important are our worldly possessions to us? Are we still busily accumulating or in contrast are we as we grow older doing our best to reduce them and, in their place, find so much more value as Francis did in the wonders, the miracle even which is God’s natural Creation. And here we might consider how true are these words of Catherine of Sienna
If you are forever fearful, dependent on your own limited resources you will spend your days acquiring and hoarding an abundance of worldly things, putting your trust in them, turning your back on me. Remember that I alone can provide everything you need for body and soul.
When at times our future looks so uncertain it is easy to as it were barricade in and look for security in our bank accounts and our possessions and in effect copy the example of the man in in Jesus’ parable building great barns as a false and ultimately useless security for the future, Instead of which recognise as Francis did that the greatest security comes from trusting in God, in the Good Shepherd who is always there to lead us, to protect us and to comfort us at all times and in all circumstances. Find also, again as Francis did, a sense of peace, of wellbeing of true thankfulness to our Creator God in all the extraordinary beauty that lies around us in the natural world remembering all the time the challenge that lies in the words of Kenneth Steven that it is ‘ a gift to leave behind more beautiful and free.’
Instead of material possessions and an ever-increasing reliance on technology can we perhaps pray this prayer of St Francis and in it find the richest, most truly valuable of rewards. ‘You are holy, Lord, the only God, and your deeds are wonderful. You are love, you are wisdom. You are humility, you are endurance. You are rest, you are peace. You are joy, you are gladness. You are all our riches, and you suffice for us. You are beauty, you are gentleness. You are our protector, you are our guardian and defender. You are courage, you are our haven and hope. You are our faith, our great consolation. You are our eternal life, great and wonderful Lord, God almighty, merciful Saviour.
Francis lived what outwardly seemed a life of extreme poverty and yet in hearing this prayer of his we can recognise where he found his true imperishable treasure, The treasures of love, joy, peace, gladness, courage hope, faith and consolation, Are we able to boast these same incomparable treasures in our lives or are our hearts still too set on building those barns and accumulating the false treasures of a modern, materialistic society? A question we might like to ponder as we journey home while maybe humming those words of praise for God’s creation found in today’s last hymn based on words of St Francis ‘Let all things their Creator bless and worship him in humbleness. O praise him, O praise Alleluia! And in that pondering, in that humming know where our true treasures are to be found
